Workers now allowed to help deserted pets

Gilbert police and town employees can now rescue abandoned or distressed animals from foreclosed homes.

That will be welcome news for the increasing number of cats, dogs and other pets who have been abandoned when their owners let their homes go into foreclosure.

Until Town Council last week amended its animal control ordinance, town personnel could do nothing about the abandoned pets, even if the animals were in obvious discomfort or pain.

"Up until this ordinance, pets that were abandoned or mistreated, we didn't have the authority to treat these animals unless we could locate the owner and have them voluntarily give them up," said Sgt. Mark Marino, a police spokesman.

Town employees can now seize, care for or dispose of the animals. Maricopa County Animal Care and Control will respond to abandoned animals at an additional cost, which Pettit estimated to total less than $10,000 per year.

Town Manager George Pettit said that because animals are considered property under Arizona law, town employees until now could not seize or rescue abandoned pets.

But over the past year, Gilbert employees often put humane treatment above the law.

Police officers and employees have been rescuing animals at their own risk, often taking the critters home with them, Pettit said.

"It was that or let them die," he said.

The number of incidents of abandoned pets has skyrocketed over the past year as police responded to more calls about pets barking or meowing in empty homes.

In one case, a local man and his family had called both Maricopa County Animal Care and Control and the Arizona Humane Society several times without getting any results.

Jon Watson said his family heard puppies whimpering in the empty house next door and decided to call for help.

Instead, what he got was a runaround, with Animal Care and Control and the Humane Society telling him they had no jurisdiction to go in and get the animals.

Though not equipped properly, a couple of Gilbert police officers decided to help. They rescued two dogs, five puppies, several cats and fish.

Although calls about abandoned animals have dropped in recent months, Marino said the new law is still a big help to officers.

"Before we couldn't do anything, and (residents) were calling over and over again," he said.